After being out of action since the third lockdown was announced in early January, crazy golf courses are due to reopen – but outdoor venues will be significantly ahead of indoor ones.
Outdoor courses can open from Monday March 29, along with regular golf courses and other outdoor sports facilities. The Government says that facilities should be used “in line with the wider social contact limits”, which on the same day will be extended to the ‘Rule of Six’ (or two households) in outdoor settings. Maintaining 2m distancing outdoors is still advisable, and outdoor surfaces may also still become contaminated with the virus, so it is also important to be mindful of what shared objects are touched, and to maintain regular hand washing.
However, indoor courses will have to wait. Although some indoor leisure facilities such as gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres are being allowed to open on April 12 (subject to infection rates and the vaccination programme continuing on the right track), the earliest date that other facilities such as cinemas, theatres and museums are opening is May 17. Indoor crazy golf courses are not specifically mentioned on this list, but “games, recreation and entertainment venues such as escape rooms and laser quest” are, and if you try to book an indoor crazy gold venue you will find that booking restarts on May 17.
So why is there seven weeks’ difference between the two?
The Government says that airborne transmission is a significant route by which Covid passes between people, as particles of the virus can build up and circulate in the air in the form of aerosols in enclosed spaces (even if they are large) especially where air exchange is poor. This makes indoor settings more risky than outdoors, where the fresh air quickly disperses the virus to safe levels. Observational studies tracing people infected with Covid which show the majority of transmission occurs in indoor settings and that ‘super spreader’ events (where many people are infected at one time) are more likely indoors than outdoors.